Barcelona = Gaudi

Antonio Gaudi architecture is AMAZING !!!! If you EVER go to Barcelona, you MUST look some of his work up because Barcelona = Gaudi. Unfortunately, only Amanda and Char knew that and so no one else in the group knew or cared who this Gaudi person was. We did manage to drag them to the Sagrada Familia Temple which most of them admitted was way awesome and about four of us paid the Euro to get inside. This temple was started in 1882 and Gaudi worked on it until his death in 1926. Even after all this time it is still under construction. There were cranes everywhere and the inside especially had a lot of work to do. So once we oohed and awed we had to hit the gift shop where we picked up many very cool items, some of them may come to you in gifts. :) After them temple experience we joined the rest of the girls outside and tried to persuade them to come to Parc Guell. This is actually a housing development Gaudi started but never finished and is now an enchanted garden. No one was too interested so Amanda and Char decided to venture out on our own. It was well worth the effort!!!!!! This park is so incredible I can't try to explain, so if we ever get photos up (hehe) you can see for yourself. In this park there are benched and walls everywhere covered with small coloured bits of tile in awesome designs that would have taken months!!! We had to climb a HUUUUUUGE hill to get to the entrance and even tho there were some escalators in certain parts we were still crazy out of breath by the end. Ok, we admit we're out of shape but that motivated us to hit the treadmill once getting home!!!! We were so excited to start taking pictures of everything and so Amanda turned on her camera (the only one we had with us) but it wouldn't turn on!! Her batteries had died!! In a panic we ran everywhere in search of a gift shop. After getting mixed directions from lots of spanish speaking folks we finally found one and got the precious batteries. Meandering around the park was a fabulous experience because there is something new and different at every turn. At the main entrance is a big lizard made out of cement or stone and then covered with all the tiny tiles. Char wanted her picture taken by a beautiful wall and while she was posing 2 italian guys ran up and asked if they could have it taken with her...which means more cute guys to add to our growing list. Actually, judging by all the Italians we have met, we are a little nervous for Italy because so far they have been the most forward and the hardest to get rid of!! So that was our experience with Gaudi and Char is thinking maybe she would like to become an architect..... Amanda and Char